I work at a restaurant / inn that is about 3,500 sq feet of public space, and the owner was trying to overhaul the audio system. We have two dining rooms and three outdoor dining areas.
The owner was pulling her hair out trying to figure out a way to cheaply sync audio across multiple rooms. Her current solution was multiple iPhones, a Spotify family plan, and some bluetooth speakers + an old school receiver in the dining room. It took forever to set up, you couldn’t shuffle any playlists or play radio stations (which drives you nuts)
She was trying to spend less than $600 but was prepared to bite the bullet on a couple Sonos speakers.
I got her a set of 3 Dios Nodes, a used Airport Express (late 2012 gen 2) and a Sonos Move, I spent like $400 and through the magic of AirPlay 2, it’s all flawless! Music synced across 5 distinct spaces, one source device, no wires, and I looped in the old receiver to use the 9 wired passive speakers in the dining rooms.
I highly recommend these speakers. They’re not stereo, they don’t have a mic built in, it doesn’t matter.
These are very specific speakers, at an attractive price, and they work flawlessly.
The music is perfectly in sync, you will have trouble hearing the transition from one room to another.
If you have a Sonos or Apple multi-room setup and you’re looking for a cheap way to extend it to your backyard, these speakers are it. If you’ve got a store or a restaurant and you need to build out a multi-room setup cheaply, these are it.
If you’ve got a HomePod in your bedroom and you think it could be fun to sync it up with a shower speaker, get one of these!